Allison Sharp

Month: July 2015

I’ve had my ups and downs as your fan. Your music is catchy as hell and does what it sets out to do incredibly well. You are doing really interesting and awesome things for your fans. You are making money. You are living alone in New York. You have cats. I imagine, like the rest of your fan base, that we could be friends.

When you refused to declare yourself a feminist, I was upset. I thought, “here is another influencer of young girls who is feeding into the bogus idea that feminism is toxic.” I thought, “like your stuff, but I’m out.” You can say it was a low-point in my fandom.

Then you came around. I really admired the ways you discussed your journey as a feminist. I admired that you weren’t afraid to say you had misunderstood. It is hard to be a feminist. It is especially hard to be a feminist when there’s so much misunderstanding surrounding the cause. I was proud to be your fan again because I felt that you honestly portrayed a stage that many young women go through. You could call this a high-point in my fandom.

Guys. I don’t know if you know this, but there is a show out there that will make even the babiest of feminists go into a rage. This season of The Bachelorette from start to Men Tell All (haven’t seen the finale yet so no spoilers) has been a wild ride on the misogynistic riptide of the culture. Many people have talked about Kaitlyn Bristowe’s failure to carry out very specific responsibilities, but I am finding it hard to find a written list of said expectations. Like so many expectations of women, these insidious implied ideas about how women should act are not explained but are heavily enforced. I wanted to put together a list of the bachelorette’s responsibilities for future reference.